How the heck do you rack up 120K in student loans working on a Masters and PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy?  Presumably, you get the Masters on the way to the PhD so the total effort should take three or four years. I hope you’re not paying tuition!

Here is a compromise:  Instead of an ROTC like program, why not give forgiveness on the tens of thousands of dollars in student loans that these people wrack up to get the skills needed for the work they would be doing for the government in exchange for a contract that guarantees one year of service for every year of student loans?  I would sign up in a heartbeat to serve my country at 57 years old with some $120,000 in student loans from my Masters and PhD work (ongoing) in Public Administration and Public Policy.  I have seen such programs for teachers and doctors, so why not for government service?  It would viable, it is already a program in existence, and the American public gets payback in service for the money that paid for the education of people such as myself.  It is simple, but apparently, Mr. Dionne does not see simple, only complicated and objectionable.

Do we need more people in government service?  Yes, at the local and state levels especially, but we also need people to help better govern this nation and implement policies that are practical and workable in a nation this size.  Government service does not pay as well as it used to in relation to the private sector, but if done well, it is worthwhile and something to be proud of.  It allows people to make a difference within the system instead of trying to constantly tear it down, and if the citizens of this nation maintained an active role in their own governance, perhaps less government service would be required.  But until they do, encouraging people to enter public service is important, and loan forgiveness for college students is a good way to start.

By Anarcissie, November 17 at 12:34 am #

“The first thing that would occur to a neo-con as training for public service would be, of course, ROTC.”

Of course, the neocons themselves would all get deferments.

I’m highly qualified. Why not make the process of applying for, getting and filling these govt positions easier?

I’ll sign up for 5 years..10? 15!!

The first thing that would occur to a neo-con as training for public service would be, of course, ROTC.

There’s no such thing as “Public Service.” Everyone who works for the government or runs for office does it for the money and the perks. They’re just a bunch of hogs at the trough, and so are the journalists that belly up to the trough along with them. Telling that they named this bill after a war criminal but, as Arlo Guthrie says, “That’s America for ya…..”

Too bad Dionne hooks the idea into ROTC because apparently he is promoting higher education for government service only, not military enlistment. But by linking ROTC he confuses the issue.  (Or is this intentional?)  Those many people who are opposed to the influence of military in the schools in any form need to regard this suggestion with extreme suspicion. 
  The military aspect might get Congressional votes, and might bring in money to the project more easily, but if the education is in any way connected to the military, it will end up just another way of bribing kids to sign up for war in order to go to school—a policy which is downright evil and mean - if you stop to think about it—taking advantage of naive kids who think they are signing up for education, then later finding out that military strings were attached in the fine print.

I know a girl who went from the private sector to a state job.  Foolishly, she was in the habit of staying late or bringing work home with her so she could clear some of the backlog that the last slack-ass to hold the job dropped in her lap.  When her boss found out about this unorthodox behavior, she was told to knock it off.  When she pushed back, they guy actually threatened to fire her saying in effect that she might not be DOT material.  True story!

From a practical standpoint, why should the government pay students’ tuition when students right now are actually paying for internships?!  Hundreds of thousands of white collar workers are pounding the pavements.  And Dionne thinks taxpayer subsidies are required to get people into government?

ROTC is a bribe because bribes are needed to get people into the Army.  People are beating down doors to get into the government!

In this economy, who wouldn’t want a low stress, 9 to 5 job, with great benefits and no possibility of being fired?  Paying people to take government jobs?  Puh…leeze.

Filler Crowly—why are you shocked?  The Washington Post is a neo-con outlet.  Neo-cons believe in government as a sort of religion.  When the misdeeds of government become too overwhelming, as they tend to pretty regularly, it’s time for some window-dressing and some new recruiting techniques.  Thus we have Camelot and the Peace Corps at the same time as the War in Vietnam is being ginned up.  With the U.S. involved in several profitless imperial wars and a depression, you’re going to hear a lot of idealism.

What’s this? A halfway decent idea from an employee of the Washington Post? Color me shocked!